Is Hockey Still Canada's Game?
Disciplines
Applied Statistics | Sports Studies
Abstract (300 words maximum)
The Montreal Canadians earned the National Hockey League’s 1993 Stanley Cup, which would be the last time a Canadian team won. The purpose of this research is to explore the potential relationship between the Soviet Union’s 1991 collapse and the Stanley Cup’s winning teams by comparing National Hockey League (NHL) players from former Soviet states on American versus Canadian teams between the 1990-91, 2007-08, and 2018-19 seasons. The chi-square results showed players from former Soviet states increased from the 1990-91 to the 2007-08 seasons for both American and Canadian teams; however, they decreased for both American and Canadian teams from the 2007-08 to the 2018-19 season. This decrease may be explained by the 2008 founding of the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL), a Eurasian hockey league mainly based in Russia. These results shifted the analysis focus to if former Soviet states players were paid larger salaries by American teams than Canadian teams, which could create a preference for playing on American teams. A two-way ANOVA comparing player nationalities, salaries, and whether they played for an American or Canadian team for the 2007-08 and 2017-18 seasons found no significant salary difference. However, 2007-08 season players from former Soviet and western European states were paid more than players from North America.
Academic department under which the project should be listed
CCSE - Data Science and Analytics
Primary Investigator (PI) Name
Michael Frankel
Additional Faculty
Joe DeMaio, Statistics & Analytical Science, jdemaio@kennesaw.edu
Is Hockey Still Canada's Game?
The Montreal Canadians earned the National Hockey League’s 1993 Stanley Cup, which would be the last time a Canadian team won. The purpose of this research is to explore the potential relationship between the Soviet Union’s 1991 collapse and the Stanley Cup’s winning teams by comparing National Hockey League (NHL) players from former Soviet states on American versus Canadian teams between the 1990-91, 2007-08, and 2018-19 seasons. The chi-square results showed players from former Soviet states increased from the 1990-91 to the 2007-08 seasons for both American and Canadian teams; however, they decreased for both American and Canadian teams from the 2007-08 to the 2018-19 season. This decrease may be explained by the 2008 founding of the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL), a Eurasian hockey league mainly based in Russia. These results shifted the analysis focus to if former Soviet states players were paid larger salaries by American teams than Canadian teams, which could create a preference for playing on American teams. A two-way ANOVA comparing player nationalities, salaries, and whether they played for an American or Canadian team for the 2007-08 and 2017-18 seasons found no significant salary difference. However, 2007-08 season players from former Soviet and western European states were paid more than players from North America.